Black Elk Speaks Chapter 1 Summary

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While we read a handful of chapters in Black Elk Speaks, one chapter in particular caught my attention more than the rest. Chapter 21, “The Messiah” was a rather captivating one, in not only its content, but also the unfolding of the previous two chapters that leads up to the content in that of chapter 21. The aspect of chapter 21 that are most captivating to me is the realization of everything that is taking place out west, while Black Elk isn’t present. While these chapters not only give us insight to the Wasichus’ movement west and the treatment to which they displayed towards the Black Hill people, we are also exposed to the individual struggle to which Black Elk himself is overcoming. For his in particular, he’s not only an individual who is suffering from …show more content…

This combination of events that all unfold in the same general timeframe must have had a tremendous impact each and every aspect of Black Elk. While the inner struggle of Black Elk was one of the biggest points I gained in chapter 21, this treatment and expansion westward of the Wasichus’ is something that most of us have learned about at some point in our academic careers, but might not have focused on in depth. For me personally, growing up we learned a little bit of this “white expansion westward” but it was nothing of such great importance that I found myself digging more deeply into. But as we read Black Elk Speaks and discuss the movements of the Ghost Dance movements. I cannot only begin to make many similarities to the previous wrongdoings we have discussed in the course towards the Native American people and traditions. But also link so much of this treatment to who we were as a country during this time period. This persona of America at the time and the persona that many outsiders associate with the United States today can be mutually had. As a

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